Elective caliphate failed catastrophically, leading to dynastic rule

Evidence

The first four caliphs after the death of the Prophet were indeed elected in the sense that none of them had a hereditary claim to the succession. If one asks the pragmatic question—did the elective system work?—the answer must surely be that it did not. Of the four elective caliphs three were murdered—the last two by fellow Muslims—and the whole system collapsed in a bloody civil war. The emergence of the dynastic caliphates and sultanates was the result. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 539 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

As Prophet, Muhammad could have no successor. He was in Muslim parlance “the seal of the Prophets,” and his book was the final and perfect form of God’s revelation to mankind. But as head of the new Islamic state he needed a successor—and quickly, if the state was not to collapse in anarchy and its people revert to paganism. A group of his closest and ablest companions took immediate action, and agreed on one of their number, Abu Bakr, who assumed the headship of the community and state. Monarchical titles were odious to the early Muslims, and Abu Bakr preferred to be known by the modest term khalı¯fa, an Arabic word which, by an ultimately fortunate ambiguity, combines the meanings of deputy and successor. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1420 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Although government, corporations, and the dominant media try to represent racism as an unfortunate aberration of the past that has been relegated to the graveyard of U.S. history, it continues to profoundly influence contemporary structures, attitudes, and behaviors. Nevertheless, anyone who would dare to call for the reintroduction of slavery, the organization of lynch mobs, or the reestablishment of legal segregation would be summarily dismissed. But it should be remembered that the ancestors of many of today’s most ardent liberals could not have imagined life without slavery, life without lynching, orlife without segregation. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 57 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Early elective Islamic succession failed bloodily and became dynastic rule — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 539; The caliphate was founded to solve succession after Muhammad’s death — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1420; Ottoman defeats stemmed from command dysfunction, not merely a later start to reform — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1384 (+17 more)

Broader Connections

• Early elective Islamic succession failed bloodily and became dynastic rule #corroborates (1.00) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 539
• The caliphate was founded to solve succession after Muhammad’s death #complicates (0.90) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1420
• Ottoman defeats stemmed from command dysfunction, not merely a later start to reform #complicates (0.80) — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1384
• Institutions once deemed inevitable became unthinkable through political struggle #complicates (0.80) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 57
• Kingship and caliphate differ by lawful rule, not succession method #complicates (0.80) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 527
• Most Muslim governments were repressive ‘bunker regimes’ with shaky legitimacy and high collapse odds #complicates (0.80)
• A seemingly unshakable autocratic regime collapsed through converging domestic and international pressure #complicates (0.70) — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 542
• Missing Islamic core states force outsiders into failed ordering roles. #complicates (0.70)
• Empire-building forced a de facto separation of religious and political power in Islam. #complicates (0.70)
• Castilian rulers suborned Muslim elites before and after the conquest #complicates (0.70)
• Islamism rose from secular nationalist failure, left weakness, and economic crises #complicates (0.70) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 323
• Egyptian military reform enabled a regional empire that collapsed under European pressure #complicates (0.70) — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 23
• Western power and ideas devastated the Islamic world from 1800 onward #complicates (0.70)
• The Islamic Revolution was fundamentally a poor people’s revolution #complicates (0.70) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 398
• History shows Shia rulers who gained power either fell or governed like Sunnis #complicates (0.70) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1435